Tuesday, July 10, 2012

facebook / myspace / bandcamp
Solbrud are a band from Denmark, rooted in the leftist/anarchist movement of Copenhagen centered in the new youth house (Ungdomshuset) where they rehearse, help arrange shows and so on (though they're not a directly political band in terms of lyrical messages). It's their debut full-length album, that's available for free @ bandcamp, as well as self-released gatefold vinyl limited to 500 copies, and as digipack CD released by Euphonious Records/VME.

You can read a detailed review of it here, but I must add that I can't fully agree with comparing Solbrud to WITTR - while they're definitely influenced by WITTR, I think their music is primarily rooted in the Scandinavian scene. Overall, their music may be somewhat unoriginal, but quite decent for a debut. Looks like Danish metal scene isn't very big when compared to those of Sweden, Norway and Finland, but now we have a band from there that isn't only worth attention, but also shares our beliefs.

Monday, July 9, 2012

bandcamp
Dark hardcore from Armhurst, MA, with angry and misanthropic lyrics. While I'm now trying to avoid posting regular hardcore/punk here (there are already enough blogs for that), this band supports my blog and I think their demo (which will be soon released on tape by the Exquisite Morbidity label out of California) will fit well in line with the Astenix' demo.

This album is currently one of the most high ranked new releases on gnwp.ru, so I thought I should share it with you (despite it being obviously more 'hardcore' than 'metal'). Astenix are a female-fronted dark hardcore/neocrust band from Penza, formed in 2009. Despite being a relatively small city, Penza already is a home for several good projects (including La Vida Cuesta Libertades). However, it's always refreshing to see a new (neo)crust band that's not from Moscow or SPb.

It's their debut full-length album, recorded during 2010-2012. So far it's gathering mostly very positive reviews, but I personally can't call it perfect. First off, it sounds somewhat generic and not much different from most other dark hardcore bands (but still quite decent for an young band from provincial Russia). Second, if we compare the vocal work on this album, and Hiroshima45's demo, I prefer the latter. Anyway, Astenix are a promising band with worthwhile ideology, so I think I'm doing the right thing by posting this album here.

Finally, I'm posting the last release in my queue of "releases that are long overdue to be posted". Now it's only left to check out the newest album by Prison of Mirrors, and I'll be done with that. As for this split - I think both bands need no introduction. Awesome bands, awesome split, recommended for everyone who waited for any new stuff from Marnost.bandcamp

DOWNLOAD
Doppelgänger of Death are a duo from Czech Republic, featuring members of Blood In Our Wells, Poltergeist, and Tomorrow’s Hell. This is their first EP, which is distributed for free. However, donations via bandcamp are welcome - the collected money will be used for benefit purposes (see more on their bandcamp page).

bandcamp Black Vulture are a 3-piece band from Rio de Janeiro whose music has been labeled "psychedelic black metal". According to the members, Black Vulture are a quite long-standing band (formed in 1998), and they love my blog. They also have a crossover thrash metal side project called Rocha, whose debut album is expected to be released this weekend. As for "Ele", it's recommended to anyone who's into raw Latin American BM in general.

bandcamp
Another interesting release which I forgot to post in time (it was sent to me in late February)... but better late than never:

"Our lyrics aren't overtly political (one concept about a demon bastard going through life, another about isolated cave people discovering civilization long lost to them and ransacking it) - but we all do very much identify as punks, are socialist or anarchists, 3 of us are vegetarians, and so forth. We play some kind of black metal or another, when we originally formed we got together to make something sounding like Wolves in the Throne room - but I'm now really happy that we don't really sound anything like that..."

"The lyrics deal with the rebirth of the world through an allegory of god's murder by his right hand archangel: Gabriel. I'm sending you this because we heavily believe in an extremely anti-authoritarian/libertarian social system and even though this release only focus on anti-religion our next one will deal with the murder of human authority over nature and other people instead of god's murder. Even though I'm not that fond of these kind of tags we could be called eco-anarchists I guess. Well, I'm not gonna hide behind our shitty production because I still believe these songs are good with or without the right production/recording tools"

Well, it isn't shitty, not at all. The release consists of 6 untitled tracks, and while it's indeed not perfect (and somewhat monotonous at times), it's quite good for a debut. Sorry for taking too long to post it (it was released in February and sent to me 3 months ago).

bandcamp
First off, now you can follow my blog via Facebook - just follow this page. Second, I checked the private messages for that page (which I don't usually do, because it's run by other people, and I'm only a honorary co-moderator of it), and found a message from a Guelph-based duo called Swarms: "I can't say as any of my lyrics specifically pertain towards anarchism- but my own views are definitely in line with that and I'm sympathetic towards all efforts and causes along these lines. if you could spare the time for a review, we'd greatly appreciate it..."

Well, from my impression it's rather a collection of demos (different in sound and quality of production) than a solid album, but nevertheless it's worth checking out. You can skip the first track, though (it's a rather lengthy intro).

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About the blog

First of all: there's probably a lot of broken English on this blog. Hope it isn't that bad, at least I'm trying to do my best. Feel free to point me to any of my mistakes, if there are any. -B.K.

If you're playing in a band and want to see your music featured on our blog - just send a download link of your demo to us:

- oiseau [@] riseup [.] net - for basically anything RABM-related, but she is generally interested in atmospheric, depressive, and post-BM stuff, as well as the projects from Latin America (and Mexico in particular). You can also contact her via facebook.

- band name, release name/year, country of origin, album cover image (or at least band photo or logo);

- track listing (properly numbered);

- preferably a full release (not samples or streaming) in mp3/m4a/ogg (128kbps or higher bitrate). You may use any free filesharing site (preferably Mediafire) to host your files; or you can use Bandcamp (but then make sure your release is available for free download). *** NO LARGE ATTACHMENTS PLEASE!!! ***;

- any other info about you and your release (links to any sites related to your band, release notes, etc.);

- reason why you want your music to be featured on our blog (note that it's not just another metal blog, and even if your band is apolitical, it still should be somehow in the spirit of RABM movement).

Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, contact us via email (rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com), and we'll consider taking it down.

If you wish to become a contributor for this blog, send a message to rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com. The obvious requirements are: being supportive of the RABM movement, good proficiency in English, and willingness to review lots of albums on a regular basis.

FAQ

Q.: Which kinds of music are featured on this blog?

A.: - (primarily) RABM or Red & Anarchist Black Metal: all kinds of black metal-related music charged with radical leftist (anarchist, libertarian socialist, eco-anarchist, etc.) political views. Some of the bands featured here may be not openly political, but all of them are RABM-friendly;

- blackened crust/hardcore/punk (only if it's openly RABM-friendly, or if it's just very good music; we have no intention to collect here all the blackened punk in existence);

A.: Most bands nowadays have a bandcamp page, where you can but their stuff online (usually for an arbitrary price). It's the most convinient way to support the band. If your favourite band don't have a bandcamp or bigcartel page, try to find out in which distro you can find their albums/merch. Of course, go to concerts if you have such opportunity.

Q.: How can I offer my financial support to this blog, or the RABM movement in general?

A.: Unfortunately right we don't have an opportunity to accept donations, but we hope we'll be able to set it up soon.

Q.: What is the connection between black metal and hardcore/punk/crust?

A.: It's a well-established fact that the connection between black metal and punk scenes existed since the early days of BM (think Venom, early Bathory, early Mayhem and early Sodom on one side, and Amebix, Discharge and Axegrinder on another). Recently this mix of BM and hardcore punk got a new life in the form of blackened crust (thanks to Black Kronstadt / Iskra in first place). And don't forget about Cascadian black metal bands with their radical environmentalist ideology, often to the extent of radical eco-anarchism or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideas.

Q.: What's your main ideology?

A.: This blog is generally written from a position of anarchism without adjectives; however, the RABM scene is very diverse ideologically. Let us end on this, as this blog isn't quite a right place for purely political debates; if you want to learn or argue about anarchism/other ideologies, there's a lot of specialized FAQs/blogs/forums for you.

Q.: Isn't black metal supposed to be apolitical?

A.: Supposed by whom? I personally don't think so, but if you think that political awareness should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call the bands featured on here "blackened punk" or whatever you want. It should be noted, though, that a lot of these bands doesn't openly talk about politics in their lyrics, exactly because they think it wouldn't be suitable for black metal. - B.K.

Q.: Isn't RABM just an "answer" to NSBM?

A.: While RABM is definitely against NSBM and any other kind of far-right crap in metal scene, it's most emphatically a self-sufficient movement and not any kind of "answer to NSBM". Similarly, while RABM is 100% pro liberation from any kinds of religious tyranny, it isn't a movement against any particular religion (Christianity, Islam, or any other).

Q.: What's your opinion on Satanism?

A.: The so-called "Hollywood Satanism", which is often found in black metal, is, in our opinion, nothing more than inverted Christianity, so we aren't big on it. Many of us are simply atheists, pagans of all kinds, gnostics, etc. We also don't share the notion that only genuine theistic Satanists / Devil-worshippers can play "real" black metal (this would exclude such bands as Venom, Bathory, Immortal, Summoning, and many many others). Additionally, the very term "Satanism" is quite vague, and can't be narrowed down to LaVeyan Satanism (which is heavily disliked by many black metallers), or whatever else. LaVey had some good points, but in general his philosophy can be described just as "Ayn Rand with some occult tinge".

Q.: What about misanthropy and nihilism?

A.: To put it in short: we don't hate everyone and everything (and we don't think there's anyone﻿ who truly does). We just hate these traits of humanity which make true anarchist society most likely infeasible in the foreseeable future.

Q.: Collectivism or individualism?

A.: There actually is no "hard" contradiction between these two terms. Individualism is simply an outlook emphasizes the moral worth of the individual and its right not to be oppressed by the state or some social group. It doesn't contradict at all with standing up for your rights along with a group of like-minded individuals. It also worth noting that the early black metal scene didn't promote individualism that much (see "black metal circles").

Q.: Who coined the term "RABM"?

A.: Hard to say, but there's an apparent similarity to RASH ("Red & Anarchist Skinheads"). Here's the very first mention of "RABM" we could find (August 2005). The term was popularized by our last.fm group (and later - by this blog) since 2009.

Q.: Do you know the ideology of the band X? It isn't obvious if they're NSBM or not...

A.: Sorry, we don't know, do your own research. It's often hard to say anything certain about a band's views, if the members themselves aren't open about it. We also don't advice using various "lists of nazi bands" etc. as a reference, as most of them are full of bullshit. Similarly, forum posts or blog comments (especially anonymous ones) generally aren't a reliable source for anything. In one particular case, we had an anonymous comment claiming that the members of Timebomb are now playing in a fascist band called SPQR. Later it turned out that it were members of a completely other Italian band with a similar name (Timebombs). Hopefully that'd be a good example of how important fact-checking is.

Q.: I've seen some of the albums posted here in the same distro with some albums by right-leaning bands...

A.: Unfortunately it's often the case with distros and labels that distribute stuff regardless of its political affiliation. Even Austin Lunn of Panopticon complained about Pagan Flames (the label which released his "Collapse" and "Social Disservices" LPs) having NSBM in their distro, so things like these are just unavoidable.

Q.: Some bands on this blog have Burzum on their list on influences. Isn't Varg Vikernes a nazi?